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The Washington Post has a story about the proliferation of extra fees tacked on to just about every product or service under the sun. A couple of good insights make it worth the read.
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I had a conference in Vancouver in October. When I flew into Vancouver's airport I found out, much to my surprise, that I would have to pay 15 Canadian dollars just to leave the place (this fee not being included in my ticket). The airport authority called it an "Airport Improvement Tax". My only thought was, "I don't care what this airport looks like, I'm only going to be here a couple of hours".
Patriotism is the opium of the masses
My boss gets lots of complaints because we pass the 3% credit card charge on directly. Like somehow people who pay with cash or check should subsidize the credit industry.
I hate that sort of thing. It first really hit me when I got an unexpected $1 fee for using an ATM. Not the fee from the ATM's owner--a fee from MY OWN BANK for not using a preferred ATM network! After that I just came unglued (switched banks too).
In the end, I think it's all just part of the game. Most people are so jaded about "the value of service" anymore that the only way to sell something is with the lowest price. A lot of these fees serve no other function than to allow the price to represent the real value of whatever it is you're paying for. No longer do we live in an age where many aspects of the transaction are rolled into an "overhead account". Everything seems to be billed in excruciating detail!
While it largely makes sense, I long for the days when bills were simpler.
I think Mauve has the most RAM. --PHB (Dilbert Comic)
Traveled to Houston recently. my rental car charge was DOUBLED by taxes and extra fees... to the tune of around 400$ for the week.
I don't know what the hell they are building in Houston that justifies that level of extra tax and local fees, (airport tax, use tax, local tax, etc, etc).
That kind of nonsense kills me... "Oh, did I mention that a few additional charges and taxes are added... that'll be DOUBLE what you thought it would be! Thanks for doing business with us!"
Yeah, thanks... it was good for me too.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
It definitely makes you think though. I noticed all the extra taxes and fees and such on my phone bill, but like the article says, I never paid a great deal of attention to them. Now I'm going to start shopping around and see what better deals I can get.
It wasn't until I read the article and began to think about it. But there are so many cases, and not even in the industries mentioned in the article. The two examples that came to mind was first McDonald's were if heaven forbid you can't have a 20piece McNugget with 2 sauces they get you for a dime a piece for a extra sauce. And at the local university, if you want just a cup for water its a dime, unless your purchasing something. Its kind of amazing if you stop to look around and see how many places have little addon prices.
I put the m in oop.
The local Cable co has been running an ad over and over for the past couple years that criticizes satelite companies for tacking on extra fees... One example is the extra monthly charge for a second reciever. Of course, they don't mind being blatanly hypocritical.
Their new Digital Cable package sounded a lot cheaper, but adding in the little extra charges that they include, I was paying even more per-month... I canceled on the spot.
Most people may not notice, but I notice, and I reject it on principal alone, not to mention that going with the seemingly more expensive options usually save you money in the end.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Adding the 3% to the bill if the customer is paying by credit card is a sure way to piss off the credit card company. They might even revoke your ability to accept credit cards.
I know of many restaurants in NY which rather than take the 3% loss on transactions (which at busy places can cost tens of thousands at the end of the year), have an ATM installed on site. Wanna pay by CC? Sure, go use the ATM. Now instead of losing 3% on the sale, the business gains $1.00 (other $1.00 goes to ATM vendor).
Fees like this particularly infuriate me. I am currently looking into other banks after first union(wachovia now?) decided to start charging 50 cents every time you pay with something with your atm card. This after they'd finally dropped their 1.00 fee in addition to the 1.50 you pay to atm owners for getting money at a damn 7-11. The article does make one good point though - companies that play their marketing off consumer frustration with fees can make a bundle. I recently stayed at a wyndham, the hotel chain listed in the article. It sounds stupid, but the fact that I signed up for a free program and now can count on free internet access, free ld phone calls (!), extra pillows, and a free (as in beer) beer whenever I walk into my room there will make me choose them over just about any other chain. Other hotels could take a big lesson from them, especially certain "luxury" hotels whose idea of "business services" is putting analog jacks on the sides of the phones so you can pay 10 bucks in service fees to check your email over dialup, and allowing you to receive faxes for a dollar. Give me broadband in the room and I'll stop bitching about how there's only 5 non-pay channels on the tv.
My mother in law was in Mexico on a tiny little island, and as the plane was about to take off, the military and police stopped it for not having the official duties paid, this amounted to going seat to seat and getting 15 USD for every person. Needless to say they all had the cash to pay, but never told a soul that there was an issue about it until the plane was ready to take off. No one ever saw one official document. Hmmmm...
*Cough*. B-S. *Cough*.
My boss, who worked for CNN for decades was recently in Mexico, and he just keeps a wad of cash with him when he pulls out his news camera to work down there. I'd say about 1/3 of the people that I have talked to about Mexico have been shaken down by the police because they are foreign.
Needless to say, I went to Mexico. Great place. Same place as the relatives. No plane fee for me leaving. Surprise. But you can bank it that I had at least 50 USD for me and my wife when we got on the plane.
After all, in Mexico policing is a for profit business. You should assume like I do that the police are massively crooked whenever you go to a foreign nation, and be surprised when they are not.
I kind of assumed in USA *everything* was a "for profit business".
Certainly US-slashdot posters often indicate a preference for no government unless avoidable, no taxes where possible, etc. I read this as one of the messages from the original article, that local authorities were collecting income from people through indirect taxation rather than direct taxation.
Maybe things just cost money, and paying for them ultimately comes down to each of us, but it simply boils down to how the organisations get the money out of us.
(BTW I find your assumption that "police are massively crooked whenever you go to a foreign nation", i.e. the whole world is crooked apart from the USA, naive and xenophobic to say the least. Some of your police hardly have an international reputation for integrity).
If you buy your ticket AT THE BOX OFFICE at the front door of the venue at the time of the event?
You guessed it. You pay a convenience fee.
Makes you wonder about scalpers. When they go to arrest one, could they present the argument that the exta $100 they charge for a $30 ticket is just a convenience fee?